Waiting calmly to be mic’d up, she is effortlessly magnetic. Her hair curls frame a face that radiates focus and warmth, her crisp white outfit whispering both ease and authority. She does not just look like the dream many young people chase, she embodies it.
In an interview at Hyatt House in Westlands, she begins detailing how she grew up. For the first two years of her life, Ethiopia was her home and all she knew.
“I grew up in Dire Dawa, which I think is around 500km from the capital and the Somalian border,” Muluneh said.
At just three years old, her world shifted again, this time from the sun-kissed landscapes of Ethiopia to the tidy canals and cobblestoned streets of Holland. It was there, in the heart of the Netherlands, that childhood unfolded: a place where her parents planted new roots and quietly built the foundation of a life that would carry the family forward.
“Currently, I live in Dubai,” Muluneh said with a soft smile, her voice carrying the weight of a life stretched across continents.
For her, the desert city is not just a place on the map, it is the latest thread in a tapestry woven from Ethiopia, Holland and beyond.
Muluneh likes to say she is an only child who grew up surrounded by many. While she is the sole daughter of her mother and father together, her family blossomed far beyond that. With five brothers on her father’s side and a sister on her mother’s, she was never short of company, laughter or the gentle chaos that comes with a big, blended family.
Growing up, her parents were not the carbon copy of typical African parents. Unlike most African parents, who rule their households with an iron fist, her parents were more free-spirited. Having different views on life, they tried to loosen their reins on her.
“However, when I was a child, I still felt like they were strict. I now understand that they had to because we were in a foreign country,” Muluneh said.
“If it was my aunt or someone else in my family, my upbringing would definitely have been stricter.”
In the classrooms and playgrounds of Holland, Muluneh often felt like the outsider, the one face that did not quite blend in. With Ethiopian roots planted in foreign soil, she wrestled with a shame that was not her own, but inherited from a world that was quick to brand Africans with the tired stereotype of poverty. Even as a child, that weight pressed hard, shaping how she saw herself long before she understood who she truly was.
“I remember that whenever I tried to tell someone I am Ethiopian, they would immediately ask me is whether there is a lot of hunger in Africa,” Muluneh said.
“There are some people who even asked me bluntly if I had enough clothes just because I am Ethiopian.”
These sentiments rubbed her the wrong way, further pushing her to alienate herself with her Ethiopian identity.
“I did not understand the reasoning behind these sentiments. The fact that I barely remembered my time in Ethiopia as a toddler further complicated things,” Muluneh said.
However, her parents refused to let her drift away from who she was. While the world around her made Ethiopia feel like something to hide, they fought back with pride, reminding her at every turn that being Ethiopian was not just part of her identity, it was the heartbeat of their family. Through stories, culture and constant affirmation, they worked to anchor her in roots too deep to be forgotten.
“My parents forced me to learn Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia. They even introduced me to the different cuisines from Ethiopia,” Muluneh said.
Now, as an adult, Muluneh sees it all more clearly. What once felt like insistence from her parents has revealed itself as a gift, a shield against the identity crises that haunt so many children of immigrants.
Instead of feeling torn between worlds, she carries her Ethiopian heritage with gratitude, knowing it rooted her firmly in who she is.
“I use my Ethiopian identity in a lot of aspects in my life. It is a part of my identity,” Muluneh said.
LOVE AND FAMILY
The year 2013 did not just mark another year on the calendar. It flipped the page to a whole new chapter: love.
When Muluneh looks back on the first time she met her husband, she laughs at the irony. It was not the stuff of fairy tales or cinematic sparks, but rather an ordinary encounter that would quietly grow into the extraordinary story of her marriage.
“I think we were just having lunch at the same place and we began to have a conversation,” Muluneh said.
What was supposed to be just another casual exchange quickly unraveled into something deeper. Words flowed easily between them, like old friends picking up a conversation they had never actually started.
One story led to another, laughter slipped in between, and silences felt less like gaps and more like comfort. Before they knew it, time had dissolved and their voices carried well into the late hours of the night, proof that some connections don’t need grand gestures, just the magic of being heard and understood.
“At around 11 o’clock at night, I insisted that I had to leave because I had work the following day,” Muluneh said.
Once he realised the rare gem he had found, her husband never looked back, never even thought of leaving.
Nearly nine years later, their love has ripened into a marriage marked by ease, laughter and the kind of quiet bliss that only grows stronger with time. For Muluneh, it feels less like chance and more like the universe deliberately aligning her romantic stars.
“Till this day, he always puts the effort to be around me and align his life with mine,” Muluneh said with a smile.
In retrospect, she never thought her motherhood journey was on the cards.
“I think the stereotype of a mother being confined to staying home to take care of her family just put me off the idea initially,” Muluneh said.
However, now a mother to three amazing children, she feels motherhood has been fun for her, especially as her children get older.
Not willing to follow the path set out for others by society, she decided that she would make motherhood a personal experience for herself.
“By teaching them what I feel is best, I allow my children to explore life and build their own interests. I will never force my kids to follow a certain path,” Muluneh said.
“Even though it is hard sometimes facing criticism from my community, I do not strive to be a traditional mum; I am simply here to serve my children in the best way possible.”
STUDIES AND CAREER
While in university, she studied medicine. Though medicine was not her calling, her parents forced her into pursuing it in university.
“I was young and I did not know what to do. Abiding by my parents’ demand made the most sense to me at that moment,” Muluneh said.
“Since I wanted to make my parents proud, the only career options for me would have been a doctor, lawyer or engineer. This is quite common in our culture.”
In between a rock and a hard place, a career in medicine was the most appealing to her. Considering a law degree would require a lot of reading and she did not have the slightest clue of what engineering involved, she decided to go to medical school.
However, after the six years of learning the basics, she quit medical school. Even though she had thought of going for another six years in medical school to specialise and become a brain surgeon, this dream was put in her rear view upon further introspection.
“I never liked going to school. I still don’t,” Muluneh said with a laugh.
At a time when other people might have thought she was headed in the wrong direction, she had an epiphany. During her internship days, she had noted that while most of the hospital staff were women, the parameters that allowed them to take care of family matters were small, even though they were in most cases the caregivers.
Taking the time to do her due diligence in research, she explored work from home scenarios, though unheard of during those days, that would be beneficial for these women.
“I always find a problem and a solution to it. Therefore, by offering a tool where these women could access their medical files from homes, working from home became a feasible reality for them,” Muluneh said.
“From this business, I made my first million at the age of 22.”
This venture was the genesis of her business journey.
INVESTING IN AFRICA
In the beginning, she was focused on starting businesses from scratch. For instance, she started a sports league for women because there were no group sports for women at the time.
“I also started a clothing brand, MULU, that has over the years grown into a clothing manufacturing company,” Muluneh said.
However, as she evolved as a businesswoman, investing in businesses piqued her interest. Transitioning from building companies from the ground up, she now prides herself in investing in and later selling companies.
“‘Rise of fearless’ is an example of my investment in tech,” Muluneh voiced. “Founding it in 2024, I had the vision of bringing African narratives into the gaming world.”
Her investment journey has recently brought her to Kenya, where she plans to launch a firm called Nyle with its headquarters in Nairobi. She said the firm is essentially an African-based diaspora investment.
“Through Nyle, you can invest in a large project with multiple investors and just divide your shares. Higher investment equals bigger wins,” Muluneh said.
“Before, there were only foreign investors, but since my dream has always been to invest in Africa, there are some projects in Nyle that are now only offered to African diasporas.”
For her, Africa is not just a continent, it is a calling. While skeptics dismiss investing in it as a wasted effort, she sees untapped potential, boundless opportunity and stories waiting to be rewritten.
Her passion runs deeper than perception. She believes Africa is far more powerful, vibrant and promising than the world often gives it credit for.
“Despite the cases of corruption and political strife, Africa is booming at the moment. It is the best place you can be right now from a business perspective,” Muluneh said.
“For instance, Kenya has recently been neck and neck with South Africa in developments, even though South Africa was ahead of the curve by being already developed.”
Reflecting on her business journey so far, she admitted that her success would not be possible without the people around her.
By surrounding herself with people with ambition and with tunnel-vision about succeeding and leaving a mark in the business world, she was able to expand her thinking and strive for better things.
“As a young entrepreneur hungry for growth, the next big breakthrough won’t come from the same old circles,” she said.
“You need fresh voices, bold perspectives and a new tribe that can spark the ideas essential for your next chapter in business.”
